The Pizza Company is confident of pizza's potential, despite rising competition from other foods, and forecasts 400 pizza outlets in Thailand in two or three years.
Currently, there are about 290 pizza outlets nationwide, of which 204 belong to The Pizza Company. The company expects to be responsible for half of the more than 100 outlets forecast to open in the next few years.
Pizza has plenty of opportunity to attract Thai consumers, despite Thailand being a rice-consuming country, said Andy Holman, general manager of Minor Food Group, the operator of The Pizza Company chain. Japan, which also has rice as a staple food, has more than 1,000 pizza restaurants, he said.
Yet many other food sectors are growing faster than pizza, although more pizza outlets open every year. With this in mind, the Pizza Company has recently added pasta to its menu.
"Our pasta business grew 50% in the first seven months of this year, compared with an earlier target of 8%. We know that rice is an important part of the Thai diet so we have launched rice-based menus as a third strategic product to drive our future growth," he said.
Yesterday, the company launched eight baked-rice Italian risotto dishes,which have been adjusted to suit Thai palates and sell at 79 baht.
Italian baked-rice dishes have been launched in China and Middle East, and had a very positive response, he said.
The company expects the dishes to repeat their success in Thailand and targets sales of 150 million baht by the year-end. The firm will spend 50 million baht to promote its rice dishes this year.
The Pizza Company will also add six branches by the year-end and focus on its delivery service outside Bangkok.
The company expects its sales to grow by 8% over 2009, the rate of increase already seen in the first seven months of the year. The Pizza Company expects the pizza business in Thailand to be worth five billion baht in 2009, with the company holding a 70% market share.
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